I'm 
I'm one of those oldbies who still feels like a newbie. :) Joining in May of 2016, I signed up only after seeing several promo posts in the Altcoin Discussion board at Bitcointalk. As is typical for the board, there was a lot of disparagement of Steemit: I still remember several bad-mouthers calling it a 'Ponzi scheme'. It didn't occur to them that Bitcoin itself had been called the same thing. Human nature being what it is, the crypto sphere is ridden by "fight above, kick below."
Eleven Month Absence, Hard Lessons...
About a year ago, right at the beginning of the Year of Crypto, I vanished from Steemit. A large part of the reason was U.S. politics. As President Trump's victory demonstrated, the political game had changed hard. Since I was writing about politics under my own name, I felt obliged to overhaul my mental equipment.
After a lot of noodling around, I buried myself in the theory of the managerial revolution. Originally formulated by James Burnham in 1941, it was extended and deepened by the late Sam Francis in both his Chronicles columns and his magisterial, if challenging, work Leviathan and its Enemies.
In a nutshell, the theory of the managerial revolution says that bourgeois-capitalist society has been replaced by a new type of political system, managerialism. Instead of the owner-operator businessperson, the "Representative Man" of this age is the manager: a person equipped through formal education with skills of organization, direction, control and suchlike, as well as specialized highly technical skills. Unlike the bourgeois person, the managerial person is at bottom indifferent to the size of government. In many cases, managerialists see opportunity in an expansion of Big Government. If they oppose the growth of government or seek a rollback, it's essentially on pragmatic grounds. Managerialists, unlike bourgeois, have no principled objection to Big Government above and beyond sentiments.
The theory of the managerial revolution explains a lot about politics that's otherwise inexplicable, such as the passivity of the masses, the apparent inability of populist movements to get their acts together, and the de-facto power of the Deep State. At street level, it explains the change from people being inner-directed (motivated by conscience) to other-directed (motivated by the opinions of others.)
(If your interest is sparked, 
Given that I'm a writer, part of my mental retooling was writing about it. I currently have an unfinished manuscript, with a happy ending on how cryptocurrency will transcend managerialism, that grew to >42,000 words. :) Banging it out, and editing it from an extended brain-dump, goes a long way to explaining why I was absent for such a long time.
...And A Humbling Lesson
Another hard lesson I had to learn: I wasn't the good trader that I thought I was. I was one of those folks who not only gained six figures in the Year of Crypto, but also lost six figures due to my emotional inaptness as a trader.
There's an important lesson for anyone who's tantalized by riches from trading: crypto trading is like the proverbial one-armed bandit that sucks you in with the occasional jackpot. The only way I've made and kept big money is through buying and holding. If you're a so-called /biztard, this lesson is the one you need to know. Take it from me: the humble pie you have to eat will inoculate you from blowing your wad.
To this end, the Steem Power feature is a great way to keep you on the buy-and-hold track. It's one reason why I never sold a single satoshi of STEEM that I sent to my wallet. Since the power-down takes thirteen weeks, you're obliged to think hard before selling any. Also, you have to think of the price over the next three months. This acts as a further restraint against hasty selling, not to mention imprudent or foolish trading.
How's this for irony: Steem Power was precisely the feature that the Bitcointalk badmouthers focused on when calling it a Ponzi scheme!
And Now, The Car!
I did salvage enough funds to pay down some of the debt hanging over my head.
Also, enough for my first car - and for an unofficial vanity plate:
Okay, it's far from a Lambo :) It's a 2011 Nissan Versa, which I got used from Executive Motors of Scarborough. I got a good car from them - one mechanic I took it to called it "very well maintained" - at more than $1,300 below list. When I took it in for a Safety Standard Certificate inspection, the only parts I needed to replace were two brake shoes that were slightly below the standards spec. Even with that inspection and repair, it was ~$1,000 below book.
Though an entry-level car, it's pretty durn good!
Gas-sipper, peppy on the streets, well-maintained before I got it. And everywhere I drive, the folks around me see this:
Who knows how many people have fired up their phones to Google "STEEMIT" to find out what it is!
Thanks for reading!
And I hope that you take the buy-and-hold lesson to heart.